I Am Nojoom, Nearby Sky win top awards at Dubai Int Film Fest

HEADLINES  I Am Nojoom, Nearby Sky win top awards at DIFF  DFM unveils first acquisition deals  Al Murry wins first Ministry of Interior Award  DIFF’s Cinetech to extend beyond festival  Breish sips Mate with Germany’s Filmbucht Latest News  I Am Nojoom, Nearby Sky win top awards at DIFF Khadija Al-Salami’s I Am Nojoom, Age 10 And Divorced was awarded best fiction film in the Muhr Feature competition at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), while Nujoom Al Ghanem’s Nearby Sky won the award for best non-fiction film.  DFM unveils first acquisition deals Dolphins, Abood Kandaishan and Cairo Time are the among the first titles set to be released theatrically in the Middle East thanks to the Dubai Film Market’s new distribution programme.  Al Murry wins first Ministry of Interior Award Emirati filmmaker Saeed Salmeen Al Murry has won the inaugural Ministry of Interior Award for Best Societal Screenplay at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) for his project Going To Heaven.  DIFF’s Cinetech to extend beyond festival The 11th edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) closes today, but film industry professionals will be able to watch many of the Arab films in the selection online for the next nine months.  Breish sips Mate with Germany’s Filmbucht Lebanese filmmaker Bass Breish is gearing up to make his feature debut, Mate, with German production house Filmbucht Filmproduktion. Interview  Daoud Abdel Sayed, Out Of The Ordinary Egyptian filmmaker Daoud Abdel Sayed talks to Liz Shackleton about working with child actors and tackling the supernatural in his latest film, Out Of The Ordinary, which is premiering at DIFF.  Jan-Willem van Ewijk, Atlantic Dutch director Jan-Willem van Ewijk explains to Melanie Goodfellow how a passion for windsurfing in Morocco was the inspiration for his film Atlantic.  Khadija Al-Salami, I Am Nojoom, Age 10 And Divorced Yemeni director Khadija Al-Salami tells Melanie Goodfellow about her struggle to bring the issue of child brides to the big screen in I Am Nojoom, Age 10 And Divorced.  Nujoom Al Ghanem, Nearby Sky Emirati filmmaker Nujoom Al Ghanem talks to Liz Shackleton about how she worked with trail-blazing camel owner Fatima Ali Alhameli and building a film industry in the Emirates.  The Imitation Game: Cracking the code The Imitation Game brings the story of a little-known hero, who changed the course of the Second World War, to the big screen. Andreas Wiseman talks to the team behind the film.

Casablanca Mon Amour - Screened at Dubai International Film Fest

Casablanca Mon Amour is a modern road movie that encapsulates the more complex and fractured nature of living in a world where TV and wars compete for headlines and occupy imaginations.

Casablanca Mon Amour offers more than a dry critique of the impact of media on culture. Instead, the film takes a human and humorous look at the effects Hollywood films have on people’s imaginations and affords Moroccan’s (our movie set ‘extras’) an opportunity to talk back—which they do in intelligent, witty and wildly ingenious ways.

Casablanca Mon Amour uses the process of movie making as a way of turning  the Great American Story on its head – and offering Hollywood and America story about itself.

Here is another interesting, witty and humourous film.

Filmed in Morocco!  79 mins !  In Arabic & French with English subtitles.

More pics and interview with the director John Slattery at: www.filmytown.com

TABOOR - Screened at the Dubai International Film Festival

Taboor is about a man who seeks to protect his hypersensitive body from the daily rise in temperature caused by pervasive electromagnetic waves.

He concocts an aluminum jump suit which he wears under abundant layers of clothing. Despite his fragile health, every evening he rides his motor cycle to keep appointments with his customers.

He works as a pest control man who destroys cockroach nests. After each mission the man plunges into the dark heart of the city, crisscrossing the far flung streets of a megapolis in which time has stood still and from which the tumult of the day has disappeared. While awaiting the dawn, he must confront the many intrigues of the night.

Full review and interview with the director Vahid Vakilifar at - www.filmytown.com

Leila Al Bayati’s BERLIN TELEGRAM screened at DIFF 2012

Take a plane, stop fly away,
stop you’re going to become someone,
stop I believe in you, stop I’m doing this for us,
stop Leila is a musician.

She is heartbroken, a sudden breakup comes like a hectic telegram. It’s a moment of choice. To start protecting herself or to change, start over? To cut herself off from everything: life, surprises, love… but not smoking? Leila changes her life. She is putting herself at risk again because that’s what is called living It’s a road movie, a journey both physical and mental, a story of crossing paths. The encounters Leila makes will teach her to re-open her eyes to the world around.

This is what surmises the internationally acclaimed Iraqi-French singer-song writer and now a successful film maker’s latest film which was screen amidst huge applause at the Dubai International Film Festival 2012.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with LEILA AL BAYATI at:  www.filmytown.com